Parliament may resume sooner than expected

OTTAWA— Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau is expected to move quickly to reopen Parliament in a bid to kick-start his Liberal government and provide Canadians with a middle-class tax break as soon as possible.

Members of Parliament are likely to be called back to Ottawa in early December, a month after the Trudeau cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony on Nov. 4.

Governments often take several months to prepare for the reopening of Parliament and draft a speech from the throne setting out the ruling party’s priorities and policies.

So there had been speculation the Liberals might wait until January to convene the Commons and Senate. MPs usually return home for the holiday break between mid-December and late January.

But Trudeau promised during the election campaign to move quickly on a number of issues, especially the Liberals’ pledge to bring in a tax cut for middle-income earners.

The December return of Parliament could enable the Liberals to quickly deliver on the tax-cut pledge.

Tax changes can be put in place immediately once the legislation is tabled in the Commons. The Canada Revenue Agency will begin implementing a tax measure right away if MPs pass a ways and means motion. This means employees could see improvements in their take-home pay before long if the new government goes ahead with the tax measure.

In addition to its tax pledges, the Liberal government also needs to move quickly on its promise to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees; the creation of a national inquiry into missing and murdered women; pulling out of the combat mission against Islamic State extremists, and amending Bill C-51, the Conservatives’ anti-terror legislation.